PHILADELPHIA — A New Jersey man has filed a federal lawsuit against the medical professionals involved in a surgery he claims resulted in his wife’s death from internal bleeding.
John Raymond filed his complaint Feb. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Named defendants include Amanda Lieberman, the physician assistant who performed the procedure, as well as Dr. Errin Hoffman, Good Shepherd Specialty Hospital and Lehigh Valley Hospital.
According to the complaint, Diane Raymond was diagnosed on March 7, 2018, with excessive fluid between membrane layers surrounding her right lung. John Raymond alleged medical officials ordered a surgery without informed consent from him or his wife, and Lieberman performed an ultrasound-guided thoracentesis on March 8, during which she “cut, sliced and otherwise damaged Diane Raymond’s liver, veins, arteries and/or other internal organs,” but did not recognize or acknowledge that reality while preparing a report of a successful surgery.
Hoffman reviewed Lieberman’s notes a few hours after the surgery and concurred with her assessment. That afternoon, Raymond was transferred from Good Shepherd to Lehigh Valley Hospital in critical condition. Although doctors recognized the internal bleeding, Raymond went into cardiac arrest and died within an hour.
The 21-count complaint includes a demand for a jury trial and compensatory damages.
Raymond is represented by Scott M. Wilhelm of Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 5:20-cv-00959-EGS